Being a Jewish democrat

Simple: Until the Republican party reverts to some level of sanity and rids itself of the narcissistic, racist, misogynist and increasingly antisemitic tropes of the guy who they worship, then normal Dems and Rhinos are preferable to MAGAmania.

Gadol, do you think the Torah would favor candidates who are racist, misogynistic, and narcissistic, or politicians who are actively creating laws which fundamentally contravene the basic code of decency outlined for non jews to follow – i.e., abomination groups, gender ideology, etc..?

Which do you think is a net gain for kovod shomayim?

All minorities have it better in america than their home country; a black man even during segregation was far more prosperous and healthy than his African counterpart. A society which is at its worst, unequal, and gives less to some than others might be unjust, but has it violated any of the 7 mitzvos? Is racial and gender equality obligatory?

No.

Is creating a new, non-heteronormative society(their words) with pride in their sinfulness on full display, which celebrates baby murder and calls it health care, against the 7 mitzvos? You bet it is.

Use your Jewish sense of right and wrong and put down the New York Times for a bit; you’d be surprised what thoughts start coming to you when all you expose yourself to is the blatt gemara for just a few weeks.

There is no such thing for a frum Yid to be a Jewish Democrat or Jewish Republican.
If an American Goyishe Political party defines your Yiddishkeit, then you are misunderstanding your purpose in life while living in golus .

AviraDeArah: I agree that the extreme left’s influence on the democratic party with the celebration/promotion of transgenders, for example, is problematic. But this is why I would be open to vote for a democrate as a frum Jew:
I believe frum political conservatives aren’t in touch with how awful things were for our grandparents in the old world. Every country where a religious group imposes idealogy on others lacks stability. Think Syria, Iraq, Iran. And demanding US keeps the 7 Noahhide laws, for example, leads to the same type of prosecution of others that we sought to escape from. Of course there are laws that must be kept universally, and there’s always going to be a tension as to how to where and how to draw the line. I’d rather live with that imperfection, knowing that the tides are less likely to turn against us, lo aleinu.
There have always been ‘alternative lifestyles.’ I don’t condone this and feel uncomfortable that politicians and media are trying to push this on us. But what caused all this? Republicans trying to motivate their base through fear. It started when they started passing laws against trans using bathrooms. How would anybody ever even know if a boy who looks exactly like a girl is sitting in a stall in the girls’ bathroom? Err on the side of live and if you care so much about these people, develop relationships with them and try to show them the way. I do miss the age of centrist democrats. But republicans clobbering others over the head with ideaology only incites (and someties creates) the “other side.”

thank you Jack and Menachem Shmei. One additional point: I’ve seen many posts where people talk about how so many in the Republican Party like frum Jews. Though I’ve questioned this in the past, the more important point is I would rather live in an America where political parties DO NOT publicize how much they love us. Because they are publicly grouping us together, and these people love you until they hate you. Or like I said earlier, one party loving something makes the other party feel like they have to to hate it. America should be more ambivalent and lean toward defending the rights of any religion/ethnicity.

I agree with jackk
There are plenty of people in both parties that really hate us and I believe it’s wrong to identify with any non-Jewish party. That being said, I vote based on which issues I believe will most help my family and most help Am Yisroel. The spiritual wellbeing of non-Yidden is way down on my list of concerns.

Would you rather support Netanyahu, the leader of a party that has repeatedly allowed Jews to be mechalel Shabbos and eat tarfus?

Both parties are bad. You have to pick which candidate is best for the Jews. And unlike Yiddishkeit, you are allowed to be a Salad Bar Democrat/Republican. Pick the policies and ideas you like, and discard the rest.

*meant non-Jews

Er, you raise some good questions.

When we are in power in eretz yisroel, we definitely would judge goyim under halacha; same thing goes when moshiach comes and rules the entire world.

But do we have to risk ourselves to make goyim keep the 7 mitzvos?

We definitely have a responsibility on some level to prevent averos, as per lifnei iver applying to goyim(i can get sources for you on this, but poskim say it regarding doing things which make goyim sin, such as gezel), and supporting those who are declared enemies of Hashem through their abominations would be not nust lifnei iver, but actively helping them commit their atrocities.

But it’s not just for their sake; it’s lesaken olam bemalchus Shakai, creating a world which is as close to ratzon Hashem as possible, which applies to the entire world.

Not only that, but what goyim around us do affects us deeply. We’re influenced by our environment, especially jews who need to work among goyim and who need to go to school, or who are less educated and/or competent in learning Torah; these people will and do fall prey to goyishe society, and they definitely are our responsibility regardless of goyim.

But does that mean we should support, for instance, a neo nazi party if the alternative is the abomination people? That would be likuach nefesh, so no. In such a case, there simply wouldn’t be anyone to support; one’s a spiritual danger and the other is physical – let Hashem decide, it’s shev ve’al taaseh.

But in out case, even the most extreme republicans are not neo nazis. They might be nationalistic, which is never good for us, but there is just as much – if not more – antisemitism on the far left as there is on the far right…but the difference is that the lefties get away with it by dressing it up as antizionism.

So i believe that the metzius is that both would put jews in danger, but even if im wrong, and the maga republicans would present some physical danger; our spiritual health and our mission to make the world in Hashem’s image would take priority. Because trading temporary safety for kovod shomayim is not a good deal.

Now again, that doesn’t mean necessarily that we’d be obligated to fight the abomination people, unless they are making gezeros on us, and we might not be obligated to support the other side, But we definitely would not be able to support the left! That’s clear.

As for historically not being too involved in kiruv, so to speak, there is a machlokes about this. Some say that we shouldn’t reach out to goyim, because we don’t want to give them zchusim, but in this case, when they are destroying society, we’re not giving them zchusim, we’re simply preventing destruction. Remember, no society in history allowed same sex marriage since the mabul, and the medrash rabba says that this was the final straw.

Others, including rav hirsch, say that we are definitely obligated in the spiritual welfare of goyim, but our priority is jews, so until all jews are frum, it’s a moot point.

But that’s regarding kiruv; no one’s saying to go around teaching them about the 7 mitzvos; what we’re saying is not to support those who are actively against those mitzvos.

I agree with Jackk on a practical level but we know famously from Rav Miller Zatzal that he held voting Democrat is a Chilul Hashem. And we can’t make cheshbonos when it comes to chilul Hashem.

If you can’t get yourself to vote for the idiot on the Republican ballot I fully understand. But then rather don’t vote at all.

There’s a frum community that had a direct hand in getting Hillary Clinton in power in a tit-for-tat trade when President Clinton was lame ducking. The oilom, by and large, called it a massive chillul Hashem, but I know of at least one major Jewish publication that held the opposite, and called it a kiddush Hashem. From their point of view, it doesn’t matter what policies Democrats hold of, as long as they can help Jews.

Theoretically, there are multiple dimensions where one can be more conservative or progressive – economics, social issue, foreign policy, nationalism.

In Israel, you have multiple parties that select different positions along these dimensions. For example, a religious party can be left-wing on economics (asking for support), foreign policy (“pro peace”), etc.

In US, with 2 parties, there is a salad of different position that differ over time. Trump, for example, took over some populist positions from Dems.

Personally, I am registered as I, and when asked who I vote for, I have to answer – I consider each election on merits, but never yet ended up voting for a D… I also see (mostly D) votes by specific recent developments, but I don’t think any of them ever voted for R before that.

some of the D- positions are beyond my red lines: previously, sympathy to Soviets, and recently hate of Israel. “I don’t need my friends be public about it” is great – unless you actually need [ublic support.

Also, despite R Avigdor Miller position, many observant communities want democratic economic policies – increase in welfare and other redistributions.

AAQ,

This is from the Frierdiker Rebbe’s personal diary describing the arrest by the G.P.U. in Sivan 5687-1927 (רשימת המאסר):

ראשונה הלכו לחדר בנותי מ’ חי’ מוסיא ושיינא יחיו, לבקר בשם וידרשו מאתם לאמר להם: מאיזה פּאַרטיע המה, ויענו כי הם בהפּאַרטיע של אביהם, בנות ישראל בעז­פּאַרטיינע [בלתי מפלגתית], מחבבי ארחות ישראל סבא, ממאסים בשאיפות החדשות. מפני מה? — נשמע קול נחמנ­סאָהן בשאלת תמהון — מפני מה — ענתה בתי שיינא תחי’ — מפני מה אינני מחויבת להשיב לכם, אתם שואלים איך היא השקפתי, ועל זה עניתי לכם ועל שאלת מפני מה אינני מחויבת לענות או לתת טעמים על
השקפתי, כי הלא לא לשם דיסקוסיא באתם לבקר את כתביי ואגרותיי.

They first went to search the room of my daughters Chaya Moussia and Shaina and asked them: “Which party do you belong to?”
They answered that they were “members of our father’s party, apolitical Jewish women who hold dear Jewish traditions and despise the new trends.”

Such an interesting discussion!

The confluence of religion and politics within the Jewish community is something I have been struggling with lately.
I find people often confuse their political values and their religious values.

The question of “how a Jew can be a democrat” reminds me a bit of the comment I once heard “real Jews don’t eat mayo.” Well if it’s kosher mayo what’s the problem? I personally like mayo! I certainly don’t think that makes me less Jewish.

I’ve always been a proud Independent despite having to register with a party to vote in closed primaries (and in my opinion closed primaries are harmful and help drive parties to their extremes). I look at the issues and where the candidates stand and who the candidates are as people and often divide my ticket at the local level.
To determine my stance on many issues I look to my Jewish values. But not every issue has a definitive answer based in Torah. And as mentioned in other replies, no American party aligns 100% with Jewish values. Just to throw out a few random examples; should we have a gas tax versus toll roads, trade laws, zoning permits, state employee labor union contracts, corn subsidies, tax rebates for solar panels, overnight street parking, should the town invest in a new swimming pool, etc. The minutiae of governing is often not a source of great religious controversy or debate.
The national culture war issues make for great headlines and click bait but are unhealthy and divisive for our country and our people.
As we can see from CR discussions there rarely is only one Jewish view on any topic and politics is no exception.

Republicans in blue states sometimes hold positions that are more liberal then democrats in red states.

Connecticut Gov. Lamont, a Democrat, went to Israel while in office.
Connecticut Gov. Roland, a Republican, went to jail while in office.

ER – well said about being skeptical of the comment the “Republican Party likes frum Jews.”
Parties don’t like groups for who they are, they like voting blocks in swing states (Florida) and major donors. When the map changes or the donations dry up so will the support.

So my personal struggle recently is realizing the Jewish community I grew in has moved so far left politically I feel I have no choice but to leave (and I generally vote D in national elections). While looking at other options it seems many religious institutions also moved far left politically while I was apparently asleep during the last decade.
To say Jews only vote this way or that it pushes out of the community those who may hold different political views and that in my opinion is not right. We frequently welcome lively debates, but forcing allegiance to only one political party shuts that down.
My whole life I’ve felt like a round peg in a square hole so I’m used to some level of discomfort but this has sadly become too much to bear. The positive side is it’s pushed me out of my comfort zone religiously and put me back on a path I had briefly found a long time ago.